Eusebius, surnamed Pamphilus, a celebrated bishop of Cesarea, in Palestine, and one of the most illustrious men of the Christian church, was born in Palestine, towards the close of the reign of Gallienus, about the year 267 of our era. He was the intimate friend of Pamphilus, who suffered martyrdom under Diocletian in 309, and, after his death, took his name in honour of his memory. He was ordained bishop of Cesarea in 313. He had a considerable share in the contest relating to Arius, whose cause he, as well as several other bishops of Palestine, defended, being persuaded that Arius had been unjustly persecuted by Alexander, bishop of Alexandria. He assisted at the council of Nice in 325, when he made a speech to the emperor Constantine on his coming to the council, and was placed next to him on his right hand. In 330 he was present at the council of Antioch, in which Eustathius, bishop of that city, was unjustly deposed; but though he was chosen by the bishop and people of Antioch to succeed that prelate, he absolutely refused. In 334 he assisted at the councils of Cesarea and of Tyre, by which Athanasius was condemned; and he was present at the assembly of bishops at Jerusalem during the dedication of the church in that city. By these bishops he was sent to the emperor Constantine to defend what they had done against Athanasius; when he pronounced the panegyric Eusebius composed on that emperor during the public rejoicings in the beginning of the thirtieth year of his reign. Eusebius survived the emperor but a short time, and died in 338. Ecclesiastical writers, ancient and modern, are much divided in opinion respecting Eusebius. Several have defended him with warmth, in which number are Sozomenes, Socrates, Victorinus, and some others. St Jerome, on the other hand, calls him the prince of Arians, Photius accuses him, the seventh council condemns him, and this opinion is generally followed by the moderns. The successor of Eusebius was Acacius, surnamed the One-eyed, a man not less learned or less eloquent, and more enterprising, than his master. Eusebius composed in Greek a multitude of works filled with eloquence and erudition; and those which have reached us, whilst they justify the high reputation of the author, cannot fail to occasion regret that so many have perished. He wrote, 1. The Apology or Defence of Origen, in six books; 2. A Treatise against Hierocles; 3. Fifteen books of Preparationes Evangelicae, and twenty De Demonstratione Evangelica; 4. A Chronicle from the beginning of the world till the twentieth year of Constantine; 5. An Ecclesiastical History, of which Valentinus published a good edition in Greek and Latin; 6. A Paschal Cycle; 7. A work against Marcellus of Cyrra, who was condemned at the council of Constantinople in 335 and 336; 8. Four books of the Life of Constantine; 9. Five books on the Incarnation; 10. Ten books of Commentaries on Isaiah; 11. Thirty books against Porphyry; 12. A book of Topics; 13. A Nomenclature of Peoples and Nations, according to the books of the Hebrews; 14. A Topography of Judaea and the Temple; 15. Three books of the Life of Pamphilus; 16. Opuscule on the Martyrs; 17. Commentaries on the Psalms; 18. A Letter to Caspians, and a Concordance of the Four Evangelists. It appears also that he wrote a Commentary on the first Epistle to the Corinthians, and a Treatise on the Accomplishment of the Predictions of Jesus Christ. The greater number of his works, however, is only known by the testimony of St Jerome, who makes frequent mention of them, cites fragments of them, and appears to have used them very freely in the composition of his own works. Of those which have come down to us, the most considerable is the Ecclesiastical History, which has been translated into Latin by Rufinus, by Musculus, and by Christopherson. The version of the last-mentioned translator, printed opposite the Greek text, appeared in 1612. This work of Eusebius is of the greatest utility in reference to the history of the Christian church during the first three centuries, and it has earned for its author the honourable title of Father of Ecclesiastical History. In his Chronicle, which contains the principal actions of great men, and the history of discovery in the arts, Eusebius is supposed to have availed himself of the Chronology composed a century before by Julius Africanus. St Jerome translated the Chronicle into Latin, and continued it till the sixth consulate of Valens and Valentinian. The four books of the Life of Constantine have been printed with the Ecclesiastical History, and translated into French by Cousin. The ten books which remain of the Preparatio Evangelica and the Demonstratio were published at Paris in 1627, with the versions of Donatus and Vigerus, to which was subjoined the Treatise against Hierocles. It is in the Demonstratio that the invaluable fragment on Sanctification is contained. The Topography of the Holy Land, which St Jerome translated into Latin, was published in Greek by Bonfrère in 1631: it is also found in several editions of the works of St Jerome. The Commentary on the Psalms was published by Montfaucon; the Opuscula in Latin by Sirmond; the Letter to Caspians and the Canons for a Concordance. of the Gospels in the edition of the Greek New Testament; by Robert Estienne, 1530; the Notes on the Canticles by Meursius; and the fragments on the Lives of the Prophets by Curlerius, in his Commentaries of Procopius on Isaiah.